Tag Archives: burger

Austin has just been graced with another vegetarian, very vegan-friendly food cart. Good to Go is one a handful of trailers set up in a parking lot at 183 and Anderson called North Austin Trailer Yard, or NATY. When I first heard about this food trailer park, I was pretty skeptical. It’s an enormous parking lot surrounding by highway on two sides and a fairly busy road on a third. Not a tree in sight. Ugly, even by parking lot standards. But the NATY has transformed that area of the parking lot into something really pleasant.

Animal statues in front, with a peek of a bean bag toss in the rear. Source: mollyjade

You’ll find giant statues of a giraffe and a dinosaur, oversized board games, shade, and just a bit of greenery on the edges. It’s really a nice little spot to eat your dinner. And now, that dinner can be vegan.

Jenga, enbiggened. Source: mollyjade

Good to Go (not to be confused with Good 2 Go) is a vegetarian burger spot. Nearly everything on the menu can be made vegan. Of their four (yes, four!) vegan burger patties, three are homemade. The fourth is the wonderful hemp patty by Good Seed. I tried a patty melt with the black bean burger. The toasted bread and grilled onions were right on. The patty was great. Though the sandwich was a bit dry. Mayo isn’t traditional on a patty melt, but the sandwich needs a bit of something like that to even it out. Or maybe a thinner patty.

The star of the show, though, were the vegetable chips made from sweet potatoes, carrots, and beets. Crispy and just a bit sweet, they were indulgent without being greasy.

I highly recommend a visit. I can’t wait to go back and try the the Thai burger, which features marinated daikon and carrots, veggie fish sauce, cucumbers, and spicy mayo, with an edamame patty. Any spot with vegan fish sauce is alright by me!

When Flat Top Burger Shop opened up earlier this year, I was excited. They advertised a vegan burger, and I could walk there from work. Heaven. They even got things right with the bun, which was the ironically named Butterkrust brand. But before I could even type up a post about their burger, they switched to a non-vegan veggie burger.

The folks at Flat Top told me the burgers weren’t sturdy enough; they kept falling apart. I couldn’t really disagree with that. But they said they really wanted to serve a vegan burger and would keep looking for one. I wrote off Flat Top thinking this was the usual brush off.

I’m happy to say I was wrong. Flat Top is now carrying Goodseed Burgers!

You might remember Goodseed Organic, the trailer which opened in Austin in 2009, but closed not too long after. One of their most popular items was their hemp burger. Owners Oliver and Erin recreated their business to package their hemp burgers and sell them to local restaurants and through grocery stores.

The burger I had at Flat Top was good. Still a tiny bit crumbly, but I got 90% of the way through it before that was an issue. The burger is visibly grain-based but still manages to look like a burger. Flat Top offers a Vegan burger (two patties) or a Jr. Vegan burger (one patty). The Jr. is more than enough for me. They also have tasty fries made in a dedicated frier. Be aware that Flat Top’s “all they way” dressing includes mayo, so ask for yours without.

You can also find Goodseed burgers served at Daily Juice (gluten-free bun is not vegan), Snack Bar, Red’s Porch*, Javelina Bar*, All Star Burger*, People’s RX*, Violet Crown*, Strange Brew*, and The Vegan Yacht. Or purchase them for yourself at Wheatsville, Hyde Park Market, Greenling, or Thom’s Market.